coming back from war
by dkh1992
Summary: Arthur went to war with a couple of dozens of his knights. Merlin, Gwen and the others were left to wait for him in Camelot, but will he return?
1. Chapter 1

Coming back from war

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin. The BBC does.

Summary: Arthur went to war with a couple of dozens of his knights. Merlin, Gwen and the others were left to wait for him in Camelot, but will he return?

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Merlin woke up early in the morning. It was practically dawn. He always had to wake up early, because that was the time Arthur used to start his day. But Arthur wasn't there right now. Arthur was sent to war with a couple of dozens of his knights. It wasn't even Camelot's war. The neighbor kingdom, Tameran, was at war against the kingdom of Polnard. Polnard and it's king, Ronald, were known as violent and cruel. Uther was afraid that if they conquered Tameran, they would have a border with Camelot and would soon try to conquer them as well. Therefore, Uther sent Arthur and a group of his knights to help Tameran win the war.

Merlin remembered how he asked Arthur to go with him, but Arthur said no.

_"No Merlin, you can't come with me." Said Arthur._

_"But why? You need me. How will you get into your armor without me? Who will watch after your back if I am not there?" Asked Merlin._

_"Merlin, I am very capable of getting dressed by myself, and I am not going to be there alone." Reasoned Arthur._

_"Moreover, you will just be a liability since I will have to make sure that you won't get hurt." Continued Arthur. "If I am worried about you, I can't really be totally focused on the fight."_

_Merlin was surprised and touched that Arthur said he would be worried about him, but he didn't back down._

_"I am very capable of taking care of myself." Said Merlin._

_"That may be. But I won't be there as Prince Arthur. I will be there as another knight fighting for freedom. I will be the same as the others, therefore, I can't take a servant with me." _

_"You still need me there." Merlin tried to reason. He could fell that he was loosing this argument._

_"I need you here Merlin. I need you here to help Gaius in treating the ill. I need you here to be my eyes and ears in Camelot and to watch out for dangers. And most importantly, I need you to stay here and look after Guinevere." Arthur said harshly. "I need you to stay here, and if you don't want to, then I am ordering you."_

_"And what if I refuse to follow this order?" Merlin asked stubbornly._

_"Then I am not ordering you to stay here as your master, but I am asking you to stay here as your friend."_

_Merlin was shocked that Arthur said that. It's not that they weren't friends; it's that Arthur never said so aloud. And Merlin knew that he had no choice but to stay._

It has been 6 weeks since Arthur left, and his absence was felt in every place in Camelot. Merlin could feel it when he walked in the castle, when he passed by the training arena, and whenever he saw Gwen. All the people in Camelot were worried about their Prince, but Gwen was anxious.

She was always sad and worried. Merlin tried to cheer her up, but he never succeeded. Maybe it was because he didn't feel much cheered himself.

This week the people of Camelot were even more worried and anxious than ever. The reason was that they didn't hear from their Prince in more than 2 weeks. Arthur used to send in a letter and a report about the progress of the war every week. Those papers were carried to Camelot by the knights who were injured and sent back to Camelot by Arthur. So far 10 of Camelot's knights were back. They were badly injured, but were all cured by Gaius. According to them and to Arthur's reports, none of Camelot's knights were killed. However, the atmosphere in Camelot was very anxious, and the fact that they didn't hear from their knights didn't helped.

Uther was extremely worried about his only son. Merlin could tell because Uther started doubting his choice in helping Tameran in their war, and because he didn't make stupid decisions in the last 6 weeks.

Merlin tried to convince everyone that in those cases, no news means good news, but he failed miserably. He just couldn't help but worry. Merlin knew that if something terrible had happened to Arthur, he would have felt it, but knowing that wasn't enough to calm his nerves.

Another week had passed and still there was no word from Arthur. When Uther almost lost his mind from worry and started to arrange a special party to ride to the war zone and see what was going on, a group of 10 of Camelot's knights returned. Apparently, all the knights were divided into 3 groups of 5. Each group fought in a different front. The enemy's warriors outnumbered them, and the fight was hard and long. That was why it took Arthur 3 weeks until he had the time to write his report. Although they were outnumbered, Arthur and his knights won the fight and none of them were killed, though they were injured. The 10 knights that were sent back were badly injured, and a few suffered from broken arms and legs. Only 5 of Camelot's knights, including Arthur, remained in the war zone. Merlin hoped that the war would soon be over. The returning knights told Uther that Arthur and the 4 knights were assigned to go on a mission under Sir Faulow commend to try and stop the enemy's supply delegation. Therefore, Arthur may not be able to send massages in quiet some time.

_Great_ thought Merlin, _from one unbearable wait to another_. Merlin honestly didn't know how he would survive another wait.

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Will Arthur return from this war? How will Merlin tolerate the endless wait?

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

well, first of all, I wanted to thank all the people who reviewed. you guys are the best.

and now, the Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin. The BBC does.

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In the mean time, Arthur and his 5 knights were in the border between Tameran and Polnard, fighting in the war. It had been 6 weeks since they left Camelot. After sending his injured knights back home, Arthur and the remain 4 knights went on a mission under the command of sir Faulow to stop Polnard's supply delegation. They knew that if they could stop Polnard's warriors from getting their supply, they would have better chances in winning this war soon.

On the way, while riding his horse, Arthur couldn't help but thinking of the night before he left Camelot. The night when he told Guinevere that he was leaving.

_"What do you mean you are leaving?" Guinevere asked shocked and confused. "Leaving what? Me?_

_"What? Of course not, don't be silly. I mean I have to leave Camelot."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because I must go and help the people of Tameran win the war they are currently having against the people of Polnard." Arthur explained._

_"I don't understand. You are leaving to go and fight someone else's war?" Guinevere asked confused._

_"Not exactly." Arthur tried to explain. "Polnard's king, Ronald, is a cruel and violent person. If he succeed in conquering Tameran it will be very easy for him to invade Camelot. Fighting this war will not only strengthen our alliance with the kingdom of Tameran, but will prevent a much more dangerous scenario in which the entire army of Polnard will come knocking on Camelot's doors."_

_"I understand why you have to go to this war, but I still don't like it. In my eyes, it will always be a stupid war that separated us." Guinevere said in a sad, angry and yet tender voice._

_Arthur looked at her with aw. He absolutely loved this woman and the thought of not seeing her in who-knows-how-long him sad and upset._

_And then he kissed her. It wasn't like their former kisses. This kiss wasn't tender. It was full of passion and need. He needed his lips to remember everything about the lips that kissed his. He needed to remember the sweet taste, the tender texture and the feeling he had when he kissed Guinevere's lips._

_He needed her to remember him too. He needed to make sure that she will feel the same longings he will feel._

Arthur missed his Guinevere deeply. He thought about her all the time. He felt as if half of him was missing, his better half. And it was true, because he left it in Camelot, in Guinevere's hands. His heart was left hundreds of miles away from him.

But he didn't have time to sink in his thoughts. They were getting closer and closer to their target. Polnard's supply delegation was close, and he had to be focused.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi guys, sorry it took me so long to update. I was kind of stuck.

Anyway, I won't babble too much. I just wanted to thank all the nice people who reviewed. You guys are great.

Disclaimer: I do mot own Merlin. The BBC does.

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"Stay low and quiet. No matter what, do not make any noise. We don't want to give our location up. First we need to gather information. I will take 3 more men with me and we will investigate. Arthur, you, Owen and Lio are coming with me, the rest of you settle down until we come back." Sir Faulow instructed.

Arthur and the three men went observing the chariots. They spotted 10 chariot, each contained food, weapons and armors. There were about 60 men heavily equipped with swords and full body armors guarding the chariots.

After observing for a while the 4 knights returned to their unit and shared their findings with the others.

"There are too many of them. We are only 20 knights and although we are the best, even we can't defeat that many men. There are 3 fighters for each one of us. That is just too many." Sir Owen said.

"We have no choice but to confront them. We just can't let this delegation reach it's destination. If they get the supply to Polnard's army, it will be almost impossible to defeat them. Therefore, we must destroy this delegation even in the cost of our lives." Sir Faulow exclaimed. "We will attack them at night, when it's dark. We will divide into two groups, I will lead the first group and Arthur will lead the other one." Sir Faulow ordered while looking at Arthur. He knew he was a gifted commander. "My group will approach the enemy from behind, while the second group will attack them from the front. My group and I will go around the enemy's camp. When we get behind them we will attack. Arthur's group will wait 10 seconds and then attack from their place."

Arthur didn't like this plan. The chances of them winning this fight were low, and as much as he wanted to stop this delegation, he didn't want to die.

"Sir, excuse me but there must be a better way, one that doesn't end with all of us dead." Arthur said.

Sir Faulow narrowed his eyes in anger at Arthur. "There is no other way, and I prefer to die in battle doing everything I can to stop this delegation and offer our army a better chance at winning this war." Faulow said firmly.

"I understand that sir, but there has to be a better…"

"That is enough. I will not hear another word. I am the commander and we will follow my plan." Faulow shouted at Arthur.

Both men looked at each other.

Arthur knew that Faulow was right. He was the commander and Arthur had to follow his orders and not comment.

"I apologize sir." Arthur told Faulow who just nodded in return.

"All right then. Everyone, we will attack at dark. Meanwhile I want you all to rest." Faulow ordered.

"Yes sir." Was sounded from all the 19 knights.

"Dismissed."


	4. Chapter 4

Time flew by, and before Arthur noticed it was dark which only meant, it was time for the attack. Arthur was relieved to know that his 4 knights were in his group of fighters. Sir Faulow gathered all the knights for final words: "This is it. This is our only chance to end this war. If we stop this delegation from reaching the army of Polnard, we will have a better chance in defeating them soon. Now, the fight begins." And with those words Sir Faulow turned around and went to take his position, followed by 9 knights.

"Very well, you heard Sir Faulow and you know the plan. We have to go and take our position from behind the enemies' camp. Stay low and quiet." Arthur instructed the remaining 9 knights.

Arthur's group walked quietly in the woods. They had to get to their spot without being detected by the guards. They were almost caught by one of the guards when Sir Owen sneezed, but eventually they got to their destination.

That was when they heard screams from the other side of the camp, which indicated the beginning of the attack. Arthur and his group waited 10 seconds and then attacked Polnard's delegation's members from behind. At first it seemed as if Sir Faulow's plan was working, but then it all went horribly wrong. Arthur's group was able to kill many of the enemies by using the surprise advantage, however, Sir Faulow's knights weren't as lucky. Apparently, the delegation's guards were more than prepared for any possible attack and so they easily fought and killed many of the knights, as the knights were outnumbered.

_We need another plan._ Arthur thought. _There are too many of them. If I don't come up with another plan, we will all die._

"Keep fighting. Do not retreat. We will fight them even with our last breath." Sir Faulow ordered.

_No. There must be another way. I am not willing to die here, I promised Guinevere I would return and that is what I intend to do._

"I have another plan." Arthur told his knights. "We need to get back to the woods. They must follow us there. It is our only chance."

"But Sir, what about Sir Faulow's orders?" Sir Owen asked.

"There is no other choice. Are you really willing to die here? Do you not wish to return to Camelot?" Arthur asked his knight.

"I do Sir, but we can not disobey direct orders."

"The choice is quite simple Owen, either we follow Sir Faulow's orders and die fighting, or we do what ever we can to stay alive. So what do you say?"

"I say we try to stay alive. What ever the cost may be, it can not be worse than death." Sir Lio said.

"The punishment for disobeying direct order is death." Sir Owen reasoned.

"Like I said, not worse than death. And does it really matter where we die or how? We can at least try to finish our mission, which is if you forgot, is to stop this delegation." Sir Lio answered.

"Do not worry Owen, if we happen to survive this, I will take full responsibility for disobeying the orders. I will even say that I forced you at sword point to follow me instead of Sir Faulow. There will be no punishment for any of you." Arthur promised his knights.

"All right then, to the woods." Sir Owen agreed and the rest of the knights nodded and followed Arthur to the woods.

_It is our only hope. It must work._

_

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_

Hi guys, sorry for the delay, but I find it really hard to write and describe the whole fighting thing. Though to be honest, there really isn't much fighting here. As a matter of fact I have no idea how they had the time to have that conversation in the middle of a war zone.

Oh well, I did my best. Hope you liked it.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi guys, I know it was a long time since I uploaded. I am really, truely sorry.

Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to the BBC.

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They retreated to the woods, and just like they expected, the enemy's soldiers followed them.

Fighting inside the forest had it's advantages, such as the possibility of hiding behind woods when an archer shot arrows at them and when a warrior swung his sword high it would get stuck in the lower branches. However, it also had it's disadvantages, such as smaller movement space and visual range. An enemy soldier could easily snick behind them.

The fight was hard and long and Arthur knew they needed another idea, one that would give them the upper hand. And then it hit him.

"Archers, climb the trees, get as high as you can." Arthur said.

"What? Why?" Owen shouted.

"Trust me, it will work." Arthur answered. He would have given a longer and a more detailed answer, but he was busy not getting hurt while fighting two soldiers.

The 4 archers in his group quickly climbed on the near trees while Arthur and the rest 5 knights covered for them and kept the enemies away.

"Now, shoot your arrows at them." Arthur ordered.

It was a simple plan. The archers had a height advantage on the enemies and therefore easily shot them with their bows and arrows. In the mean time, Arthur and the other knights kept any enemy archer from beginning an attack of his own, and stabbing any other warrior with their swords.

It took them a few hours but eventually, all the enemy's warriors were dead.

"You can come down now." Sir Owen told the arches.

"That was close, but we did it. All the fighters were killed, that means we can finish our mission and destroy the chariots." Sir Leo said happily.

"Is anyone hurt?" Arthur asked worried.

"I am fine."

"It is just a little scratch."

"All is good."

"I am exhausted but otherwise fine."

"Ask me in the morning."

"I won't bleed to death, don't you worry."

"Yes, thanks to you."

"I think that idiot fighter broke my wrist, but I will probably live."

"My stomach hurts but that is just hunger."

"Good." Arthur sighed.

_All my knights are alive and safe._ Arthur thought to himself relieved.

"What about Sir Faulow and his group, are they all right?" Sir Leo asked.

"Let's go find out." Sir Owen suggested.

They all walked out of the woods to find a horrific scene.

Many bodies lied on the ground. Most of them were the bodies of their enemies, but 8 of them were their friends.

The only ones to survive were Sir Faulow and Sir Gai who were severely injured. Sir Gai was bleeding from his forehead and his right leg, and Sir Faulow was supported by a tree and couldn't stand on his own. He passed out the moment he saw them approach him.

Sir Harry, who was the most skilled physician among them rushed to Sir Faulow's side. He carefully checked his wounds and bandaged them before doing the same for Sir Gai.

"They are going to be fine. They just need some good rest and food." Sir Harry informed them.

They all sighed in relief.

"What do we do know?" Sir Leo asked.

"We are going to get some rest here." Arthur said. "The chariots are full of food and wine, there is no reason for it all to go to waste.

"Very well, we will rest and eat, and then we will ruin the chariots and head back." Sir Harry said.

"Or," Sir Owen suggested, "We keep the food and other supply and bring it with us to our army."

"I am too tired to think about that for the moment, let us rest and we will make our decisions in time." Arthur said.

"Arthur," Sir Gai called.

"Yes Sir Gai, how can I help you?"

"We need to talk."

"You need to rest and get better."

"You disobeyed a direct order. You left us and fled to the woods. What say you about this?"

"I say you need to rest. We will discuss it later, when Sir Faulow regains consciousness. And we didn't flee, we fought them in the woods were we had the advantage and we won. Not one of my men was killed."

"I see. But still you disobeyed orders and as impressive as your results are, what you did was not right. However, It is not my decision whether or not to punish you. It is Sir Faulow's. He is our commander, and only he can decide what to do with your actions."

"I understand, but everything has it's time and this is not the time to discuss this matter. This is the time for you and Sir Faulow and the rest of us to rest and eat. We will continue this later." Arthur said and then walked away. He helped his knights to wrap their friends' bodies in some sheets they had found in one of the chariots. They will return them home to their families to be properly buried.

Later they started a fire and cooked some food they had found in the chariots. Harry checked and bandaged each of them. They organized a standing – on – guard – schedule that meant they could sleep. And lastly, they celebrated their victory and their mission's success.

Arthur watched them have fun and even joined them. He knew they deserved to celebrate. But he also knew that a punishment was waiting for him when Sir Faulow would finally awake. He just didn't know how bad it would be.

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I hope you liked it. Please review and suggest what punishment you think Arthur should be given.


	6. Chapter 6

When the sun rose in the east, and the forest was filled with light, Arthur was in the middle of his discussion with Sir Faulow.

Sir Faulow was supported by a tree since he was too weak and hurt to stand by himself. He had a broken arm and many wounds, but thank's to Sir Harry's bandaging, he wasn't in any danger.

"What you did was unexceptable." Sir Faulow barked at Arthur. "Don't you think that just because you are a prince you will get a special treatment. You disobeyed direct orders and therefore you must be punished."

"With all due respect Sir, if it wasn't for Arthur, you wouldn't be alive to punish him." Sir Owen interrupted.

"None of us would be here. Not to mention the fact that those chariots would have gotten to Polnord's army. Arthur is the only reason our mission was declared a success." Sir Leo continued.

"That is enough." Sir Faulow shouted. "You all should be punished. You all disobeyed my orders."

"Sir, I take full responsibility to their actions. I forced them to follow my plan instead of yours." Arthur said remembering his promise to his knights.

Sir Fauloe stared at Arthur for a long time before speaking to all the knights. "Very well, Arthur will take full responsibility to your rebellion and will be sole punished for it."

Arthur nodded his head to Sir Faulow who looked at him.

"Your punishment will be decided by our army's leader, the king of Tameran, when we return to our army. Until then your hands will be tied behind your back and you will walk. Your horse will be tied to another horse so it won't run away." Sir Faulow ordered.

"Yes sir." Arthur said.

"Very well, we shall not discuss it further." Sir Faulow dismissed them.

"Sir what about the chariots, what should we do with them?" Sir Gai asked.

"Take what you can and is most important, like food and medicines. The remaining supply burn." Sir Faulow ordered.

"Yes sir." The knights said and so they did.

In the next hour every chariot was checked and burned. Whatever food and medicines found, were taken by the knights.

Arthur helped the other knights and when they finished they prepared to the ride back.

Arthur helped the others to pack the supply and to load it on the horses.

Sir Faulow and Sir Gai who couldn't help because were injured, sat near a tree and rested.

When all the horses were loaded and the knights were ready, Sir Faulow and Sir Gai who could'nt get on their horses alone, were helped by Sir Leo and Sir Harry.

Sir Owen tied Arthur's hands behind his back.

"I am sorry, I don't believe you deserve this. I think you should be rewarded and not punished." Sir Owen whispered to Arthur.

"I don't. I disobeyed orders and that is a crime. The circumstances don't matter." Arthur answered him in a whisper.

"Nevertheless, thank you for saving our lives." Sir Owen whispered back.

"What is taking so long?" Sir Faulow barked.

"I just wanted to make sure his hands were tied strongly enough." Sir Owen said.

"Now, let's go." Sir Faulow ordered them all.

"Yes sir." The knights all said.

The convoy started it's way back. 6 knights, 10 horses (they wouldn't just leave the dead knight's horses there, besides someone should carry the bodies back) and one tied man walking.

What a strange sight.

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Hi guys, thanks for reading. I hope you liked.

Please reviewed and suggest what punishment you think Arthur should be given.


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